The End is nigh and it’s great

You wait ages for one deadpan, nihilistic, misanthropic, and stonecold hilarious comedy drama to turn up in your life. And then you find out there are two series of just such a unicorn, right there on Netflix.

The End of the F...ing World has two eight-part series, the first of which dropped early last year and the second (and probably final) of which arrived earlier this month.

I’m actually happy that I didn’t find out just how good The End of the F...ing World was until both series were available. The wait for the second would have been a pain.

The End started life as a comic, depicting a young and disenfranchised man who has convinced himself – having failed at everything else in life – that he is destined to be a psychopath.

That young man, James (played by Alex Lawther, who starred in the Black Mirror episode Shut Up and Dance), is actually a very decent and thoughtful person, despite having some pretty odd ideas about his place in the world. And that is at the heart of the character’s arc and heartbreak.

Next to James, is Alyssa (Jessica Barden, Hanna), who shares James’ doomed outlook on life, but not his murderous delusions. The unlikely non-couple hit the road and a peculiarly droll, very English form of mayhem ensues.

I’ve tried describing The End of the F...ing World as Black Books-meets-Fargo and Twin Peaks-does-The Detectorists, but nothing really comes close to capturing this loopy, profound, gorgeously gentle and human show about love, murder and loss.

Working from Charles Forsman’s original comics, the series’ writer Charlotte ‘‘Charlie’’ Covell (Burn Burn Burn) has found depths and poignancy, as well as some far better-realised female characters, than the source material ever really allowed.

The End of the F...ing World is a fine show, shot through with smart decisions, pitchperfect performances and moments of real comic brilliance. If Taika Waititi or Wes Anderson had popped in as a guest director, that would have felt about right.

The series’ soundtracks, with original music composed by Graham Coxon of Blur spiked with a brilliant curation of semiobscure 1950s and 60s doo-wop and skewed pop gems, is going to the top of the stack, as soon as I find a copy.